SA Best push for jail terms for priests who fail to report suspected child sexual abuse revealed in confession

PRIESTS who fail to report suspected child abuse revealed through confession would face up to five years in jail, if a push by SA Best to toughen penalties is supported.

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PRIESTS who fail to report suspected child abuse revealed through confession would face up to five years’ jail, if a push by SA Best to toughen penalties is supported.

The party is also trying to close a “loophole” that could allow a future government to remove priests from the list of people required to report such abuse, without Parliament’s approval.

Next month, SA will be the first state to axe protection for religious leaders that allows them to keep secret admissions about child abuse made during a confession.

The changes mean priests will soon have the same legal responsibility to notify authorities as police, social workers, teachers, medical professionals and volunteers. The maximum penalty for failing to report is a $10,000 fine.

SA Best MP Connie Bonaros has put a Bill to Parliament that sets a maximum five-year jail term as a penalty specifically for priests who do not report child abuse, including abuse revealed through confession.

SA Best MLC Connie Bonaros. Picture: AAP / Dean Martin

“Too many abusers, for far too long, have escaped punishment due to their ability to hide behind the sanctity of the confessional,” she said.

“That must end now, and the legislation I have introduced will ensure that happens no matter who is in government and however powerful the groups are that lobby them.”

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said the State Government was considering aspects of the Bill but “as a matter of principle, it’s better to see how new legislation works before changing it”.

She said SA had taken the lead in lifting the veil of secrecy around confessions but conceded “we must look at any proposal seriously to ensure this cannot be reversed”.

Ms Chapman questioned why the SA Best Bill only applied a prison penalty to priests and not other mandatory reporters “as recommended by the Royal Commission (into institutional sexual abuse)”.

Ms Bonaros said she would be “willing to look at” expanding the clause but was “particularly concerned” with providing a stronger deterrent to using the confessional “as a means of getting around child sexual abuse”.

The list of people required to report suspected child abuse can be changed by the government of the day through regulations, rather than needing another vote in Parliament.

Ms Bonaros’ Bill would ensure “the potential escape clause provided by the regulation is permanently shut”.

Parliament returns next Tuesday. Care Leavers Australia Network chief executive Leonie Sheedy said she “fully supported” both changes proposed by SA Best. She said a jail term should be imposed because a fine was not a sufficient deterrent.

Labor justice spokesman Kyam Maher said his party had moved in government to include priests on the list and, now in Opposition, was “open to any changes which would further strengthen these laws”.

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Originally published as SA Best push for jail terms for priests who fail to report suspected child sexual abuse revealed in confession